Trozan: Trends emerge in Colorado insurance enrollments

Now that the inaugural open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act is over, let’s examine some enrollment statistics.

By the March 31 deadline, Colorado’s state health insurance exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, had enrolled 118,628 individuals with private insurance companies, according to federal figures that lag slightly behind the state’s record of more than 124,000 enrollments.

Additional Coloradans enrolled directly with insurance companies, but those numbers are not readily available.

Federal figures show that Larimer County had the second-highest per capita participation in the exchange among major Colorado counties. Only Boulder County had a better participation rate.

Nationally, Colorado enrolled significantly more people on a per capita rate than Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Kansas, among our neighbors. Among the big states, Colorado enrolled people at a far greater rate than New York, but at a lesser clip than California and Florida.

Fifty-nine percent of exchange enrollees qualified for financial aid to reduce their premiums.

Colorado had a narrow gender gap in enrollments when compared to the national average. Here, 52 percent of those who signed up were female — lower than the 55 percent nationwide. Come on guys, no wonder females outlive us!

Agewise, I’m seeing a perfectly logical, but troubling trend. To make the system work, we need to enroll a large number of young invincibles, so they can subsidize the older, sicker part of the population. The trouble is, young people are enrolling at half the rate of the older population. Here are the numbers:

Only 16 percent of all enrollees are age 26-34; ditto among ages 35-44. Those age 45-54 make up 23 percent of enrollees, while those age 55-64 make up 30 percent.

The health insurance buying market is being perfectly logical. As we get older, we get sicker, so the oldest and sickest participate the most. In my agency, I see the same trend of few young people buying insurance. Based on that, the real news might be even worse than suggested by the official numbers.

Of the small number of young people who have enrolled in my office, many — if not most — have major health issues. Even though they are young, they are not helping the insurance pool.

Are young people who have failed to sign up for health insurance being stupid? Some are, but I would argue that many are being quite logical. Several pricing mechanisms in the federal law are unfair to young people, so their reluctance to sign up makes sense.

Regarding Medicaid, Colorado has dramatically expanded its Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) enrollment, with 158,521 people signing up for coverage between Oct. 1, 2013, and March 31.

According to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Colorado experienced the fourth-largest jump in such enrollments among states.

Peter Trozan is owner of Trozan Insurance Agency Inc. and an independent broker certified to sell all insurers through Connect for Health Colorado. Reach him at (970) 224-5500 or peter@insurance doctor.com or visit www.trozaninsurance.com.